ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light


Click on cartoon to see how different a flower can look to a bee

Bees can see ultraviolet light. This is a type of light at higher frequencies than the violet portion of the visible spectrum. It is more energetic than visible light and can cause our skin to sunburn after too long of an exposure. Some flowers have interesting markings when viewed in ultraviolet light that attract bees. Pigments in the petals absorb ultraviolet light and thus appear dark.

Click on the cartoon to see how different a flower can look to a bee in ultraviolet light compared to it's rather plain appearance to us in visible light.

There are other forms of light (called radiant energy). Some carry information to us about violent explosive events in the universe, some tell us about the birth of stars, others tell us how our sun changes over time. All these views of the world would be ours, if we could just see beyond the limits of human vision. Modern technology gives us these views.

But first we have to understand where radiant energy comes from.



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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA